YAY!!!

First of all, let me apologize for such a long time between posts. Blogspot and I haven't been friends over the last week - I wrote three (yes, 3) posts and had them all disappear into blogworld - oh so frustrating!!!
Well, there is a lot to fill you in on....where should I begin? I suppose the best way would be in chronological order - so here it goes!!!

August 3-4

We packed up, and picked up my brother, Justin, and headed to Houston to visit my sister and her husband, Alex. Jeff and Justin went to a concert so Graham and I spent some quick, but quality, time with my sister and her husband. We went to this fantastic restaurant and then headed back to the apartment for a visit before heading to the hotel. Graham was cranky and tired from the drive, but he did manage some smiles for Nanny and Uncle Alex. He particularly enjoyed pulling up on EVERYTHING at their apartment and showing them how he can stand up like a big boy!! Linds drove us back to the hotel and Graham finally went to sleep around 10:30pm. On Saturday morning we all got up and headed to the Aquarium downtown and Linds warned us that it wasn't anything like the New Orleans Aquarium. We were expecting a small building with a few fish -- boy were we wrong!!! The Aquarium was FANTASTIC!!! Graham was in love with all of the fishies! There were even white tigers at the Aquarium!! Who would have thought to put tigers with fish??? We had a wonderful time with them!! (Pictures to come .... they are on our home computer.) After the Aquarium we headed to Chuy's for lunch which was really really yummy....Graham had his first quesadilla here and did very well!!!! :) Thanks Nan for suggesting that we order it for him!!! We headed back to Louisiana after lunch and were about an hour and a half from home when the next adventure started...We were cruising right along and heard "tha thunk tha thunk tha thunk". Jeff quickly pulled over onto the shoulder of the Bay Bridge and Justin got out and confirmed that yes, indeed, we had a flat tire. There wasn't very much room between the car and the lane of traffic so we called 911 and were connected to the highway patrol and were told that help would be on their way... so we waited, and waited and waited as 18-wheelers were flying past us. While we were waiting, we unpacked the trunk (TOTAL PAIN IN THE BEHIND!) and unloaded the spare and the jack, etc. I was just praying that we wouldn't get hit! About 50 minutes later a State Trooper showed up and directed traffic over to the left lane so Justin and Jeff could safely change the tire. They did it in record time!!! :) As they were changing the tire, I was watching the sky turn darker and darker - and it wasn't because of the time of day...it was due to a storm heading right towards us! After the spare was on the car we headed off to find a place to change a tire. We got dad on the phone and he called around for us and got in touch with Sears in Baton Rouge. Thankfully they were open until 9pm so we got there a few minutes after 7 and they were able to take us. So the 4 of us walked over to the Mall and grabbed a bite to eat and bummed around until 8:45 when we headed back towards Sears and then got on the road. When we should have been home around 6:30 we ended up home about 10:15. Needless to say, we were pooped!!!! Overall we had a great trip!! We sure do miss Nan and Uncle Alex - looking forward to seeing you when you come for Cruisin' the Coast!!!!

August 7

We headed off to the Gulfport Airport this morning to travel to IL to see Jeff's family!!!! Graham was a trooper on the drive over!! We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. I had all of my ducks in a row for flying with an infant. I had spoken with Ronnie at TSA to find out what the requirements were for traveling with baby supplies, etc. I even had his TSA employee number incase we had any problems, which he assured me we wouldn't. Well, Ronnie was SO WRONG!!! FIRST of all, we got to the ticket counter and the lady behind the counter searched for our sticker on the carseat which confirmed that it was airplane safe. Finally after locating the sticker, which a blind person could have seen, she approved it for flight. Then another employee informed us that we were going to have to gate check the car seat due to the flight being overbooked and there not being room for a carseat aboard the plane. I looked at Jeff and then asked the lady why I had purchased a seat for my 9 month old if I wasn't going to be able to install my carseat. She looked and said "oh, you do have a seat, nevermind!" After my heart slowed down and my blood pressure returned to normal, we checked our baggage and headed off to security. OH SECURITY! Have you ever traveled with an infant before??? I praise anyone who has travelled alone with an infant! It was hard enough with the 2 of us and Graham. Following all of Ronnie's instructions - I proceed to unpack the baby food, formula, juice, and the print-out of what is allowed on board for an infant. We pull out our quart-size baggie that contains Purell, infant Tylenol, Motrin, and Graham's Axid. We put all of the mentioned items into a bucket and fold up the stroller and walk through security. As I'm standing on the gate side of security a man asks "Who's baby food is this?" Well, we are the only ones with an infant and Jeff says "ours". He says "Sir, I need you to stand right here while I inspect everything". So I start packing Graham back into the stroller, so that I can re-pack our big carry on bag that they have totally unpacked only to find my ice pack for my knee that they decide is ok to travel with. I glance up, only to find not one, not 2, but THREE TSA agents opening EVERY JAR OF BABY FOOD! I was furious!!!!! They say that this is common practice, but Ronnie assured me that anything that was sealed would remain that way! FORTY FIVE minutes, a blotchy mom (that's what happens to me when I get mad!), and 8 open jars of baby food later we are allowed to proceed to the gate. Anyone who knows me knows that I can't settle for this. I am mouthing off to Jeff at how ridiculous this is and he is remaining just as calm as ever! GRRR!!! So finally the supervisor walks over and asks if I want an explanation and I explain to him that Ronnie went through the process with me and never did he mention that the food would be opened. He proceeds to argue with me that there isn't a Ronnie....So finally the conversation ends with him telling me that this is an easier conversation to have with me rather than to have to tell my family that a bomb went off in baby food because things weren't inspected properly. And I proceed to tell him that I'm so sure that I look like a terrorist and grab my bags and sprint off to the gate. I was sooo mad. So we get to the gate and I am told that there is no such thing as pre-boarding but that I may board with the handicapped customers. So we wait 30 min. before boarding with the handicapped people and the flight attendant connects our carseat. We are all ready to go!!! Here is Graham in his carseat ready to fly for the first time!!!

He did so so well on the flight!!! When we were assigned our seats we were assigned to the row behind the emergency exit - well you can't sit there with a carseat - so the flight attendant moved us back a row. Well, 2 of the 3 customers in row 24 were fine with this.....the 3rd customer was so put out that he had to move up one row!!! So the flight attendant told him he could have free drinks for the inconvience and he said "well it's going to take a lot of alcohol to fly with a baby right behind me". Graham kindly kicked his seat for the flight!!! :) Well, for the part that he was awake for! After we landed we waited for everyone else to deboard the aircraft. While we were waiting, Jeff and I both tried to unhook the carseat but we weren't successful. So we asked the flight attendant to try - they (several tried!) weren't successful and finally had to call maintenance to come and remove the seatbelts on the row so that we could get our carseat!!! So - 30 minutes after landing we got off of the plane. It was crazy.
We enjoyed our layover in Atlanta - Graham slept, we grabbed lunch, Graham ate lunch, we changed a diaper, and it was time to board again. Jeff and I both looked at our tickets and thought that we were in row 7 -- nope....we looked at them wrong!! We were in row 31. Row 31 of a 31 row plane!!! So we were sitting in a row with no seats to recline, no windows, and a very loud engine on the otherside of our seats!!! So we made note to check in 24 hours ahead of time (even though we aren't supposed to since we are flying with an infant) to select our seats. We were, however, able to unbuckle our seat without having to remove the seatbelts!!!

We met Jeff's parents at baggage claim and we were on our way to their house!!! Graham did VERY well travelling all day!!! We are praying that he does that well on our flight home as well!!